Millions of people play multiplayer online games, battling to win virtual "gold," jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world's poorest countries, where "gold farmers," harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who spend real money to skip to higher levels.

In rural India, Mala's leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of "General Robotwalla." In Shenzen, Matthew is building his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard lives in Southern California but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia. They will all become entangled with Big Sister Nor, who will build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.

The forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power -- including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister's people must outthink the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once -- a scheme that ends up being the most fun game of all.

Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist, and blogger. He’s the co-editor of BoingBoing.net, and the author of the bestselling “Little Brother,” which was recently optioned by Paramount, with Don Murphy (“Natural Born Killers,” “Transformers”) producing, and the new book “Walkaway,” among many others. He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in Los Angeles.